Pensioner faints as drugs police raid wrong house

A DISABLED pensioner is demanding a full apology after police smashed her front door down during a bungled drugs raid.

The 70-year-old, who has lived in the Queen’s Crescent flat for 30 years, got a nasty shock and “fainted” after eight officers burst in shouting “police, police”.

After a few minutes, the team of officers realised they were in the wrong flat, made their excuses and left. “It was like the riot squad coming,” said the woman, who did not want to be named. “I fainted, blacked out. It’s just as well I haven’t got a weak heart, I could be dead.”

The pensioner said she has never been in trouble with the police. The next day, police arrived at her home with a bouquet of sunflowers, apologised and admitted they had made a mistake. The “raid” unfolded just before 9pm last Thursday.

The woman said: “I was about to watch Gino on the TV but I was too shaken up. I couldn’t watch it after they left – I still haven’t seen it.”

She was referring to a show in which celebrity chefs Gino D’Acampo and Gordon Ramsay take a road-trip together.

A holder of a blue badge for her car, she suffers back pain and osteoporosis, among other health conditions.

The woman, who grew up in Denton and has lived around Queen’s Crescent all her life, added: “People are calling me a drug dealer now. They are joking really, but after a while it isn’t a joke anymore, you know what I mean? “The police never said anything about compensation. I want a proper apology, not sunflowers. I want it written in black and white that my address has been taken off the police system.”

A Town Hall spokesman said that the council was “in the process of replacing the door”.

In a statement given to the New Journal, the Met Police said: “On the evening of Thursday, 11 October, officers attended an address in Camden to execute a search warrant under section 23 Misuse of Drugs Act. Officers forced entry to the address and quickly established that the wrong address had been entered.”

It added: “The door was made safe before officers left the scene; the local council were also informed of the situation. “Officers have apologised to the occupant for the error and advised her how to claim compensation for the damage.”